


Earthquake (Now I'm Missing Your Smile)

by aintweproudriff



Category: Superstore (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anxiety, COVID-19, Earthquakes, F/M, Natural Disasters, Nonbinary Character, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post Episode: 6x04, Post-Break Up, covid vaccine, negotiations with corporate
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:35:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28333215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aintweproudriff/pseuds/aintweproudriff
Summary: Jonah gets the job of his dreams with Gateway Solar. It's a step up from Cloud 9, he's passionate about representing the workers, and it keeps his mind off of his break up with Amy.Mostly.Until, at least, his job brings him to Zephra headquarters in California, and face to face with the love he thought he lost.
Relationships: Amy Dubanowski/Jonah Simms, Garrett McNeil & Jonah Simms
Comments: 21
Kudos: 72





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> fun fact: this was originally titled "the road not taken looks real good now," and then someone else posted a (wonderful, go read it!) different fic with that title and I immediately started brainstorming new titles.   
> title still comes from tis the damn season by taylor swift, though, because it fits so! well!
> 
> the first few chapters will be slow-paced, but it'll pick up, i promise!

“Well, if you don’t have any corporate experience, then I don’t think we’ll be a good fit. I’m sorry,” said Brandon, and Jonah held out his hands. 

“Hang on, hang on,” he said, grateful as he watched Brandon’s hand back away from the button to end the call. “I don’t have experience in management, but I led the store union for quite a while. About two years, total.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yeah, I was lead on organizing, activism, and I even went to Cloud 9 Corporate to negotiate. I’ve never worked in corporate, but I do have experience from the worker’s perspective, and I actually think that can be really valuable when you’re in any field that’s labor intensive, like solar panel installation.” Jonah finished his sentence and sucked in a breath, hoping to whomever was listening that he hadn’t just blown it. Employers didn’t like when you talked about unions, and he didn’t know if this swing on his union work would work in his favor, or if he’d just talked too much again. 

Brandon seemed to consider, but Jonah thought it might just be the video lagging. “Actually, you might be in luck then. We need someone to run point on working conditions for the people doing the installation. It’s really important to us that they’re getting what they deserve, and having a middle man to focus on that ensures that things like strikes don’t hurt our profits or their salary.”

“And this position is open?” Jonah asked in disbelief. He looked at himself in the smaller window of the Zoom call, his hair slicked back, his pink shirt buttoned all the way up, and his forehead beading with the tiniest drops of sweat.

“It’s brand new, so yes.”

He shook his head, feeling himself unable to hold back a smile. “That’s insane, oh my god. I mean, it’s not insane, it’s just amazing. My experience at Cloud 9 would make me so well suited for that job, can you tell me more?”

* * *

His going away party was less than special. He sat at the front of the break room they had created in the warehouse, and watched as people ate the cake Sandra had brought in for him. Glenn kept pushing the pie Jerusha had made, but it didn’t look appetizing at all, and everyone (except Marcus, who ate every piece Glenn offered him) avoided it as much as they could. It felt quiet. No one made fun of him, told a story about the first day they’d met, or even tried to start a conversation. And there was certainly no video with personalized interviews like Amy had gotten. 

It was hard not to internalize it. He tried, unsuccessfully, to spin it like the problem was the virus. Everybody was quiet because they didn’t want to yell, they didn’t want to put potentially infected particles into the air. Or they didn’t want to hug him because of the six-foot rule. 

But who was he kidding? He’d been working with these people for years, and it was impossible to convince them not to yell. Especially Mateo. Or Dina. Or Cheyenne. And they rarely actually followed the social distancing rules. Hell, he’d seen Justine standing too close to any man she could. He wanted to not be insulted that she refused to even look at him. After all, the less Justine he had to deal with, the better. 

Just as he thought that, he realized that he may never see her again. Her, or anyone else. 

And shit, that hurt. A surprising amount. 

“Hey, um, you guys,” he called to the room. Faces turn in his direction, and he hears Glenn sniffle. “I just wanted to say that you’ve all meant a lot to me over the past five years. And I know I can be annoying, and you might not have all liked me very much, but-”

He swallowed hard. 

“-I came here to get away from a bad point in my life. One where I felt like I couldn’t do anything right. And I fled my family and my friends, and left it all behind.” He pushed his hair back. “I don’t really believe in fate, or anything, but I think that if it exists, it brought me here. To you guys. Thank you for being my friends and family when I needed one most.”

“Aw, Jonah!” He heard Cheyenne say. “We love you.”

The room murmured, and he looked around at the people sitting in front of him. Everyone seemed to be nodding. Glenn was crying, wiping his face with the backs of his hands and staining his mask a dark blue. Garrett was smiling, and it wasn’t the kind of smile he wore when he messed with someone — it was genuine, reflective, and even loving. Mateo, who thought of himself as Jonah’s rival for months, if not years, was nodding and smiling, too. 

“I know it’s not the party you wanted,” Dina told him, and he could feel her think about putting her arm around him from six feet away. “I don’t think it’s the one anyone wanted to give you, either.”

“It’s not!” Glenn wailed. “You deserve so much more than a stinking pandemic party. I wish we could have told you how much you mean to us, but it’s so hard. And we don’t want to lose you, Jonah. After we just lost Amy,” he mouthed the word ‘sorry’, apologizing for mentioning her. Jonah shrugs it off, pretending that just the idea of her doesn’t feel like a knife in his chest. “It just seems to hard to lose someone else we love.”

“Thank you, Glenn,” he said, “and thank you guys, again. I know change is hard, but you guys’ll still be in touch with me. I’ll still be in St. Louis. Heck, I’ll probably even still shop here.”

This seemed to comfort Glenn for a minute, and Jonah remembered something he read the other night. 

“Actually, Lao Tzu said that life is a series of-”

“And there we go, folks!” Dina interrupted him abruptly. “I told you that as soon as he started being annoying again, the party was over. Get to work, everyone.”

“-natural and spontaneous changes,” he finished to the group of people now flooding out of the break room. He elevated his voice to try and make his point to anyone who could still hear him.“I forget the rest of the quote, but it’s about letting go and not controlling change!” Jonah realized suddenly how much he would miss Dina, even if she was never the nicest to him. He sighed and decided to get back to work. He only had one more shift, after all, and may as well make the best of it.


	2. Chapter 2

Jonah was thankful he stayed in touch with Garrett, even if the two of them weren’t the kind of friends to text every day. About once a month, Garrett texted Jonah and asked: “hey, wanna come over?”

He knew better than to decline. The way Garrett’s friendship worked, a refusal from Jonah would be as good as saying “no, I don’t feel like being your friend anymore.” If it was a bad time for Jonah, he made sure to suggest a better one before texting back. 

So three months into his new job, Jonah found himself sitting on the couch in Garrett’s apartment. He’d grown so used to this place when he lived here, but now there was a certain feeling when he stepped through the door. Like he didn’t belong here, or like he didn’t even belong with Garrett. He guessed it had more to do with spending less time with Garrett than anything else — mostly because he didn’t want to entertain the thought that Garrett didn’t want him in his apartment. 

“So how’s the new job going?” Garrett asked, handing Jonah a bottle of beer. 

Jonah popped off the top and grinned. “It’s so great. I seriously love it already. Every day, I talk to at least one person who’s doing the work of installing power in people’s homes. It’s usually the guys who are like, project managers or foremen who I talk to, but sometimes it’s the actual builders. We do Zoom calls, and I make sure there’s no safety problems, medical problems, or pay problems on-site. If there is, I call accounting and work with them to shift some money over for them.”

“That’s cool, dude,” Garrett said, putting his beer on the table. “Sounds perfect for you. And you’re doing it all out of your new apartment?”

“Yep, I’ve got a little space designated as my office, and it’s separated from my bedroom. I read it was important to only work there, so I mostly sit there for all of my work calls and stuff.”

“Nice. I’m happy for you.”

“Seriously?” Jonah asked, not wanting to fall into some sort of trick if Garrett wasn’t being honest. 

“Seriously. Mostly I’m just happy you have your own place, and it’s not mine. Wanna play Red Dead Redemption?”

Jonah laughed. “Yeah, I do.”

* * *

His home office was not as fancy as he sounded, or as nice as he wanted to say it was. In actuality, it was a desk he’d positioned awkwardly; it faced outwards towards the room, so that when he sat in the chair he could have his back to the wall. That way, no one ever saw him with anything but a blank background, and no one ever saw his bedroom. He wasn’t all that interested in showing off his tiny, shitty studio apartment. 

The wall was cold when he sat against it on a Tuesday morning. Brandon had called a meeting to talk about a new customer, which was as unusual as it was annoying. Since he could more or less set his own schedule, Jonah had taken to not waking up until late in the morning. Preparing for a meeting at 8:00 AM felt like a brutal punishment. 

“Okay, hi everyone,” Brandon said. “Thank you for making it on time. I know Joe’s still not here, but I’m planning on sending a follow-up email after the meeting anyway. I’m sure he’ll show up at some point, but I’m not going to wait, because I know we’ll be busy today.”

Jonah looked through the Zoom call. Some of the people he knew well, like Irene from finances or Jamie, the manager of all of the different projects in the St. Louis area. Others he’d met only once: Layla, who managed the entire state of Missouri, and Layton, who covered projects in Illinois. It was a huge meeting, full of all the people who mattered most to the company. Jonah was surprised he’d made the list. 

“So the big question on everyone’s mind,” Brandon continued, “is pretty obvious: who is this mysterious new customer?”

Jonah nodded, just trying to stay awake. He heard Brandon laugh. 

“Well, I can’t believe we did it, but it’s a really big company. Our California-based team is going to be working with them primarily, but so are our teams around the country, including here in St. Louis. We’ve been contracted by Zephra to-”

Jonah’s blood went cold. Working with Zephra in California sounded suspiciously close to working with _Amy_ in California. And the last thing he needed right now — or ever, really — was to have to work with her again. He didn’t think he’d survive seeing her. He knew what it was like to work with her, to be friends with her, and to be impressed with her ability to run a workplace. Seeing her as a corporate badass, running Cloud 9 from the top, would be too much. 

His brain fought to find a way out of the spiral. Brandon said they’d be working in a bunch of cities and states. It was more than likely he’d only talk to teams from the Midwest, or maybe talk to the teams in other states, but never have to deal with anything in California. Some other crisis of under-pay or poor conditions would arise in another area, and he’d be dealing with that. Yeah. With all sorts of teams being sent out, what were the odds he’d have to work with anything in California? 

He realized he wasn’t listening to the meeting anymore, and tuned back in. 

“With this new file in place, a few changes are going to be made in positions. Of course, no one’s getting fired, we’re just shuffling. Layla, you’re going to be covering not only Missouri, but also Illinois and Iowa. You’ll have a full team of people working with you, including a new person as kind of a secondary manager,” said Brandon, and Layla looked scared. “Landon, you’re shifting to cover California and Oregon, with a similar system in place. And I trust you all know Jonah, say hi, Jonah.”

He hit his unmute button. “Hi, everyone.”

“Jonah is our worker-relations coordinator. He’s going to be the real star of the show for a while, because we’re going to be bringing a lot of new people aboard for our new teams, and they’ll need a way to have their voices heard. He’ll be chatting with every team across the country and making sure they’re getting what they deserve.”

Jonah smiled to the camera, but felt like screaming. The more he could avoid involvement with anything in California, the better. 

He zoned off for the rest of the meeting, too concerned with with Brandon had said. By the time Brandon made them all say goodbye, Jonah had convinced himself thoroughly that he was entirely fucked.


	3. Chapter 3

It was easy to find himself circling back to Cloud 9. It wasn’t the closest store to his apartment where he could do his shopping, but he preferred it to trying to figure out any store he didn’t already know. If he had a question, he preferred to ask a friend, rather than a stranger.

Plus, sometimes there were classic shenanigans going on at Cloud 9. Competitions, rumors, games — he just didn’t get that at a Target. 

He was in the Ozark Highlands Cloud 9 on Monday afternoon, almost a week after Brandon had announced that they would be working with Zephra in California. For most of the week, he had been terrified that someone was going to mention Amy, or someone else he knew, and he was going to be asked to comment. Luckily, days passed and nothing happened. In fact, he ended up spending hours on a case from a team in Kentucky. One of the men there wanted paternity leave, but Gateway Solar didn’t usually offer it. Jonah had to figure out a way to help get him paternity leave, since his husband was also working full-time. It took a while for Jonah to explain to Irene that there wasn’t a mother in the picture who could take maternity leave, so the father needed paternity leave. Once she understood, she still seemed a little hesitant to work with him to figure out the man’s pay. Eventually, Jonah noticed the picture of a baby on her wall. 

“Irene, is that your granddaughter?” He pointed at the photo in the frame.

Irene smiled widely, pushing her chair back and reaching for it. “Yep! My daughter’s daughter. Caroline is her name.”

“That’s sweet,” he said. “How old is she?”

“8 months in this picture, but she turns 1 next month.”

“Well congratulations,” Jonah smiled. “That age is a handful, huh? They need constant care. I remember-”

He realized he was about to bring up all the times when Amy needed him to change Parker’s diaper in the middle of the night, or when she asked Jonah to take care of him when Amy was working and he wasn’t, and he bit the inside of his mouth. 

Irene didn’t seem to notice. Actually, she laughed, and it created a tinny sound in his computer speaker. “Okay, Jonah, I see what you’re doing here. You make a good point. Let’s see what we can do to help him out. After all, this baby needs a parent at home.”

Jonah sighed thankfully. “Great.”

He reached for a group of bananas as he remembered the conversation with Irene. That case in particular had taken most of his week, and he hadn’t even really considered the Zephra file. 

“Jonah Simms to customer service, please,” he heard Garrett’s voice over the speaker. “Jonah Simms to customer service.”

He smiled and started walking, pushing his cart in front of him. 

Garrett sat behind the desk, wearing a pale yellow mask. 

“Hey,” Jonah smiled, fully aware that Garrett couldn’t see it because of his own mask. “What’s up?”

“Nothing,” Garrett shrugged. “I saw you come in and couldn’t let you shop without bugging you at least once, and I didn’t want to move, so-”

“-so you made me come to you.”

“Exactly.”

“Jonah! Hi!” He heard Glenn’s voice from behind him, and turned around. 

“Hey, Glenn. It’s good to see you.” Jonah said the exact same thing every time he saw Glenn at the store. 

“Aw, you too, Jonah. I miss you when you’re not here.”

Jonah smiled. “Thanks. Where are Cheyenne and Mateo? I’ve been looking for them.”

“Oh!” Glenn said, clapping his hands. “Didn’t you hear?”

“Hear what?”

“We started getting the vaccine distributed here,” said Garrett. “Cheyenne and Mateo got it yesterday, so they’re out for the next two days, in case they don’t feel well enough to come into work. Glenn and I were in the first group, so we already had our first dose.”

“Seriously? That’s awesome. That makes me feel much better about you guys working here,” Jonah said. “I worry about you all, on the front lines. It was scary when I was here, and it’s still scary to know that you’re all-”

“Yeah, thanks Jonah,” Garrett interrupted. “Do you know when you get yours?”

“No, I have no idea. I think it’ll be-”

He was about to say ‘a couple months,’ but he felt his phone buzzing in his pocket. His hand automatically went to grab it, and he pulled it out. Brandon’s name flashed on the screen, and he frowned. It was completely uncommon for Brandon to call him directly, and never in the middle of the day. Had he missed a meeting or something?

“Hang on, guys. This is my boss.” He pressed the ‘answer’ button. “Hello?”

“Hi, Jonah, it’s Brandon. Look, I have some bad news.”

Jonah’s heart deflated. 

“I don’t know if you saw on the news, but there was just an earthquake in Paolo Alto, right where Zephra headquarters are. Um, our team was working on the roof and two people fell off. Luckily they weren’t on the tallest part of the roof, the building has a part of it that’s only three stories tall, and another that’s seven stories tall, and then the tallest is eleven. The team was on the roof that was three stories tall, and they weren’t roped in, and they slipped when the earthquake shook the building.”

“Oh my god,” Jonah breathed into the receiver. “Are they-”

“They’re alive, thank god, but both in the hospital. And it feels insensitive to be concerned with this, but we’re worried that Zephra might not be willing to hold up their part of the contract and help pay for their hospital bills and leave time.”

Jonah’s mind raced to understand what Brandon was trying to say, but every time he thought he understood, his brain stopped working, and showed a white expanse.  
“So-” he tried to say. 

“So we have to send you to California, Jonah, to try and negotiate with them. This is the biggest crisis you’ll have managed so far, but you’re our best asset for something like this. Okay?”

Not okay. Not okay. 

“Yeah, of course,” Jonah answered. “This is really important. Um, when do I-”

“Tomorrow morning? We’ve booked you a flight already from St. Louis to San Jose. I’ll have Brittany email you the information in a minute.” Brandon sounded rushed. “Thank you so much for agreeing to do this. I’m so happy we have you in this position.”

Jonah sighed, and his stomach turned. He wanted to be thankful for the praise, but didn’t think he could do it. “Of course,” he said again. “Thanks for letting me know as soon as you could.”

“You’re welcome,” Brandon answered. “I’ve got to go, but please let me know if there’s anything else I can do to help you out, okay? Bye, Jonah.” 

He heard the phone click and he put it back in his pocket. When he looked up, Glenn and Garrett were watching him. 

“Guess I’d better go put this milk back,” Jonah said, disgusted that he could only manage to say that. “I’m going out of town for work.”


	4. Chapter 4

Jonah’s anxiety bubbled over as he walked through the hallways of the Zephra headquarters. It wasn’t like when he’d gone to Cloud 9 corporate to talk about the union’s demands. That had been terrifying, but he knew basically what was going to happen. This felt like playing a horror video game with Garrett; he looked over his shoulders every few seconds, always worried about seeing someone he knew from his days at Cloud 9. 

He didn’t think he’d be able to describe what had happened to anyone else. He still couldn’t decide if he’d left the store because of what happened with Amy or because it was time for him to leave. He’d told everyone it was the latter, and told himself the former when he was really drunk on a Friday night and alone in his apartment. He didn’t think that made it completely true, though. 

He’d tried to mull it over on the plane, but between the hassle of getting on a plane at 6:30 in the morning, taking a layover in Denver, and trying to catch up on the whole story of the earthquake, he had his mind otherwise occupied. 

He got to his hotel Tuesday night exhausted, and was only able to order a pizza from the restaurant he’d seen down the street, eat it, and take a shower before crashing in the queen bed that his company had paid for. 

Wednesday morning, he found himself walking into Zephra headquarters, which had towering ceilings in every room, and views of the bay from every east-facing window. Soft pink and light brown stood out as the principal colors of each meeting room and office, but the building maintained a sense of easy sophistication. Jonah felt wildly out of place, like a splash of sickly green on the color palette. 

(Speaking of sick, he had already gone to the bathroom twice feeling like he was going to puke. He was doing a shitty job convincing himself it was because of delayed motion sickness from his flight.)

He turned the corner, staring at his phone. He wanted to quadruple check that Myles’s office was room 719, because he knew he was getting close and didn’t want to knock on the wrong door. 

Just as he confirmed he was in the right place, a voice pulled him from this thoughts. 

“Jonah?”

Fuck. Amy was wearing a dark red blazer over a black blouse and pants, and she looked beautiful. Her eyes were recognizable, even with her mask covering the rest of her face. Her hair was longer than he’d ever seen it, and pulled professionally out of her face. He wanted to reach out and pull it down, just to watch it fall. 

Jonah took a deep breath in, hoping he could remember to keep oxygen flowing. “Hi, Amy. Um, how are you?”

“Good,” she said softly. “I mean, um,” she shook her head. “Late. I’m late for a meeting on the um, fourth floor, so-”

“Oh, go then,” Jonah said, almost against his will. “Definitely go to that.”

She pulled her head down to look at the iPad she was holding. “Thanks. Um, good to see you, I think.”

“Yeah, you too.”

He watched her leave. Again. 

Then he looked down at his phone for a second time, and realized he was running late, too.

* * *

In the meeting with Myles, he tried to be engaged and involved. What had happened to the workers on the team was serious, after all, and he knew it. They deserved to have their medical bills covered, as well as receive backpay for the time they’d be missing. Jonah argued these points, losing himself in the passion he felt for the cause. But every few minutes, he’d look out the window and see the ocean, and think of the sound that washed over his brain when he’d seen Amy. It was like holding a seashell to both ears, and it drowned out any other thoughts. 

He had to fight to bring his attention back to the meeting. 

“I’m sorry, Jonah,” Myles leaned forward on their desk. “I know this is important to you, and I can tell that it matters to the people from your company. But we just don’t have the money in the budget to pay them back for the time they’re missing. Our planning only consisted of what we would have to pay the workers while they were on duty.”

“They were on duty when the earthquake hit, Myles. Your contract with them states that you pay them _for the risk they’re taking_.”

“Yeah, that means the risk of being on the roof and working this dangerous job. Not the risk of earthquakes,” Myles said, standing up. “That much is made obvious if you actually read the contract.”

Jonah watched as Myles walked out from behind their desk and shifted to the door. He understood what was happening, and stood up on his own. 

“Thanks for meeting with me, Myles. Next time I need help, I’ll be asking HR rather than finance.”

Myles opened the door. “I’ll bet you will. Have a good day, Jonah.”

He nodded and stepped out. 

He decided to take the stairs to exercise the frustration away. It wasn’t until he was back in the lobby that he picked up his phone. He’d intended to call an Uber to the hotel, but he was distracted by a text message. 

_Unknown Number: sorry i was weird earlier. i hadn’t expected to see you. how are you? what are you doing in cali?”_

Jonah laughed cynically under his breath. Garrett had deleted Amy’s number from his phone, saying “you’re not going to need this anymore.”

He ignored it for a second, and put in the request for his Uber. 

He didn’t respond to Amy’s text until he was well on his way to the hotel. 

_Jonah Simms: I understand. I’m here for work with my new company._

_Unknown Number: new company?_

_Jonah Simms: Gateway Solar. We’re installing solar panels in all Zephra buildings. I’m defending the rights of the workers who were hurt in last week’s earthquake._

_Unknown Number: ...of course you are. how long are you in town?_

_Jonah Simms: As long as it takes to get them what they deserve._

_Jonah Simms: My hotel room’s booked for two weeks._

_Unknown Number: well maybe i’ll see you around, then_

_Jonah Simms: Maybe._

Jonah looked out the window at the passing city, ignoring the giddiness brewing in the back of his head. That was the old feeling he had about Amy. He was supposed to be practicing the new one: apathy. 

Still, he took a minute to go into his messages app and re-create her contact. Mostly because he didn’t like having a bunch of unknown contacts in his messages. No other reason.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for making the one nonbinary character a semi-villain (or at least a corporate puppet). if it helps, i'm nonbinary and a little bit of a villain, so...


	5. Chapter 5

He wanted to be surprised when he walked into his meeting with Human Resources the next morning and saw Amy, but he couldn’t find shock anywhere in his body or mind. Watching her face, it seemed like she wanted him to react, but he didn’t. He just took a seat at the table and repressed the urge to tap his foot nervously. 

A woman in an all-black suit and matching mask stepped through the door, surveyed the room, and looked at him. “Are you Jonah Simms?”

“Yeah, that’s me,” he stood up, and stuck out his hand. She looked at it, looked back up at him, and moved away from him. 

He decided to pretend like it was because of the virus, and sat back down. She sat in the chair next to Amy, a solid six or eight feet away from anyone else. 

“Jonah, my name is Emily Lear, and I’m the head of Human Resources for Zephra.” She glanced at the people sitting next to her, and then turned back to face him. “This is Amy Sosa, Cloud 9 manager who took interest in this particular case-”

Of fucking course she did. 

“-And this is Patrick Franco, who coordinated our contract with Gateway Solar. Of course, you already know Myles Carrillo, who is our wonderful head of finance.”

Myles smiled at Jonah, and the lines around their eyes infuriated him as he remembered their discussion yesterday.

“Yeah, we’ve met,” Jonah managed to say politely. 

“So, about the workers who were contracted to install solar panels on the roof of our company,” Emily started, opening a file. “The documents we signed with your company do thank the installers for the risks they take, but we have chosen to interpret that as thanking them for being on the roof, since we couldn’t have foreseen an earthquake.”

Jonah pursed his lips, trying not to speak. He nodded his head, urging her to continue. 

“On top of that,” said Patrick, “they were not roped in at the time of the earthquake. As a solar panel installation company, we would expect your end of this deal to be better prepared for something like this, and — in court, at least — the argument could be made that Gateway Solar is at fault for what happened.”

Jonah shook his head. “To what, exactly, were they supposed to be tied? Do you have rock climbing anchors on your roof?”

Emily laughed. “Of course not. That would be ridiculous. The point stands, however, that your company should have some level of competence in this area.”

He remembered something he’d read in the contract the night before. “Your deadlines are what made those people on the roof rush. If anything, any negligence was caused by Zephra’s want to be done by the end of January. They were pushed to work faster, even at the risk of their own safety.”

“Well, you said it,” said Emily. “They risked their own safety. Anything else cannot be our fault.”

“No, I’m saying that it was your fault. Not you specifically, of course, but Zephra. The company had already begun overworking Gateway Solar’s qualified installers,” Jonah responded, flipping through his notes. “Last night, one of the men in the hospital, David Perez, told me that the contract wanted them to be done so quickly that they started working overtime on the first day of installation. Overtime for which, might I add, they were not paid.” He tapped the paper in his file that contained the quotes from David, like hitting it would prove his point. 

“And yet their safety was never our responsibility,” said Emily. “The person who hired someone else is not to blame for the risks the hired person takes on. Especially when the danger comes from a natural disaster.”

“An individual might not be at fault,” Jonah argued, leaning forward, “but a company can be. After all, a well-known technology company carries a lot more sway than some Joe Schmo from Missouri.”

“I’ll say,” said Patrick, leaning back in his chair and looking pointedly at Jonah.

Myles let out a tiny laugh. 

Emily’s facial expression, or at least what Jonah could see of it, softened considerably. “Jonah, I feel for you. This is your job, and you’re trying to do it well, but this simply isn’t our fault, and so we can’t compensate the workers for what happened. My heart aches for their situation, and their broken legs-”

“-ribs. They broke their ribs,” Jonah corrected. 

“Yeah, those too,” Emily continued. “We’d do more if we could, but Myles can tell you that it isn’t possible.”

Myles pushed their hair out of their face. “Yeah, sorry Jonah. We don’t have the money to pay for more than twice what we budgeted.”

Emily looked like she was smiling, and it made Jonah sick to his stomach. “Amy, anything to add?”

Jonah locked eyes with Amy, trying to figure out what she might say. He wondered if she would remind her more of the person she was as manager, or the person she was when she went on strike to help Glenn keep his job. Something shifted in her face, and she shook her head. 

“No, thank you,” she said, and looked at the wood table with a sudden amount of interest. 

Jonah’s side of the table felt overwhelmingly lonely. 

“Alright, in that case,” Emily said, standing up. “Good to see you, Jonah. Best of luck back in St. Louis.”

She left, followed by Patrick, then Amy, then Myles, and Jonah was left alone in the conference room. He shook his head, equally pissed off and disappointed. He couldn’t believe that after years of knowing Amy, being her coworker, best friend, boyfriend, and then ex-boyfriend, she would do this. He wanted to believe that there was more between them than that. Apparently not. 

As he was going to stand up, he noticed a large purse left in the seat where Amy had been. Without thinking, he went to grab it. As he stepped up next to it, he heard the conference door open. 

“I forgot my bag,” Amy said from behind him, and he turned around. 

“Yeah, I noticed. I was going to try and bring it to you, or something.”

He thought he saw a faint smile on her face. “Thanks,” she said, and stepped next to him. He stepped away. As she pulled the bag over her shoulder, he found some courage he’d lost. 

“So look, why didn’t you stick up for me? Or do you agree with Emily that it wasn’t Zephra’s fault, so they shouldn’t have to pay?”

She sighed, and pointed to her mask. “Do you mind?”

“No, please,” he said, and looped his own finger through the elastic around his own ear, pulling it away and letting his mask hang from the other ear. She did the same. 

He tried not to stare at her mouth as she kept talking. 

“You’re absolutely right. Zephra should be the one to pay for the hospital bills, and they should pay backpay for the time the installers are missing. I was on your side already, of course, and then you brought up how the company was pressuring installers to rush, and that sealed the deal.”

“So why didn’t you say anything?”

“You’ve never understood nuance, Jonah. It’s always black-and-white, ‘if you’re not for me you’re against me’ type thought,” she shook her head. “I couldn’t say anything. They barely let me into the conference room. Technically, I still work for Cloud 9, not Zephra. There was no good reason for me to be a part of this, so they’ll get suspicious as soon as I say anything against them.”

“So?” Jonah asked. 

“Ugh. So I can be useful to you. I’m on the inside, I might have some sway. But I don’t want to let them know that I’ll be trying to help you until there’s really no going back. I could lose my job, dummy.”

He scowled. “You’re trying to help me?”

Amy nodded. “Of course. Your company needs what we can do.”

“We? You mean, the two of us working together? I mean, that’s fine. Obviously that’s fine, that’s great, I just kind of thought that, you know, since you left you wouldn’t want to help me.”

“Jonah,” she said, straightening her spine, and this was the manager Amy he remembered, the one who took charge and didn’t leave room for argument. “We’ve been coworkers who didn’t get along. For a while at the beginning, I genuinely hated you. And there were days when you were mad at me, or I was mad at you, and we both worked together to get the right thing done. What would make you think that would change? Just because we broke up? No.”

He opened his mouth, but found that he didn’t know what to say. Funny, that was a change of pace. 

“I’ll text you some thoughts, okay?” She asked him, and he nodded. “Good.”

Amy turned and left. Jonah stood in silence for a few more minutes before moving.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comments literally persuaded me to post this, so thank you thank you thank you for everyone who has commented. School is crazy these days so I'm not sure when I'll be able to post more but know that I don't want to abandon this fic!

Jonah spent most of his next day in his hotel room, in his underwear, frustrated. Zephra had pushed them to move too fast, so they weren’t roped in, and they’d fallen off when the earthquake hit. Still, these people were the victims of the earthquake, and their multi-billion dollar employer could probably afford to pay for their injuries. Jonah just had to find an emergency fund, a charity account, or any way to convince Emily, Myles, and Patrick to his side.  
Hours later, and he’d found no solutions. 

He picked up his phone for the first time since that morning, considering what he’d like to order on DoorDash for a late lunch/early dinner. It’s then that he sees the text.

_Amy Sosa: hey, didn’t see you around the office today. were you there and i missed you, or have you given up and flown home?  
Amy Sosa: i’m kidding. i know you’d never fly home that quickly. _

The idea of her knowing him so well hits his chest with unexpected force, and almost leaves him breathless. 

_Jonah Simms: haha. I stayed in my hotel today to look over the documents for the millionth time. My eyes burn from all the legal words I had to google._

In no time at all, she responds.  
_Amy Sosa: sounds like you could use a break  
Amy Sosa: my neighborhood owns a little stretch of beach. if you wanted to come over, you could go sit there for a while?  
Amy Sosa: no pressure, or anything. i get it if you don’t want to._

To say that he wasn’t expecting that would be the understatement of the year. He carefully typed out a reply. 

_Jonah Simms: Send me your address?_

While he waited, he threw on a pair of pants and pulled a brush through his hair. When she texted her address, he immediately called an Uber.  
He hardly even thought in the ride over to her house. He didn’t need to; the chance to see her again, outside of a work meeting where she was against him, overwhelmed his brain and he couldn’t think of anything. 

“This it?” asked the driver. 

Jonah looked up and out the window. They were parked in front of a small, pale yellow house. A rose bush by the front door caught his eye. 

“I think so.” He checked the address. “If not, I’ll figure it out. Thank you,” he said, and unclicked his seatbelt. “Have a good night.”

“You too, dude,” the driver answered. It was clear that he thought Jonah was about to hook up with whomever lived at this house. 

Jonah shook his head. Maybe in another story. 

Amy opened the door before he could even knock. “Hi, Jonah. I was walking past the door and I saw you, I wasn’t waiting for you.”

He saw the opportunity to poke fun. “Or were you just so excited to see your old friend again that you waited eagerly to see me?”

Amy rolled her eyes. “In your dreams, Jonah. While you’re here, though, will you watch Parker for a minute so I can go to the bathroom? Emma’s doing homework in her room and it’s easier not to disturb her.” She pointed to the floor of the living room, where Parker sat playing with toys. In the few months since Jonah had seen him, he’d grown considerably. 

“Yeah, of course,” he answered, and sat down next to him. “Hi, Parker. Do you remember me?”

He didn’t expect an answer, of course, so it was surprising when Parker looked up at him and said “no.”

Amy paled. “He’s only got a few words, it might not mean anything.” 

“Of course, yeah,” he said, and sat down next to Parker. “Well, bud, I can tell you all about the trouble we used to get up to, and how we drove your mom crazy.”

“Don’t give him ideas!” Amy called, but she walked away, seemingly content with letting Jonah babysit. It made sense, of course. He’d watched Parker hundreds of times before, and knew almost exactly what to do. Parker was bigger, now, but not too big that he couldn’t handle the challenge.  
Hell, he’d been there when Parker was _born_. He could handle an almost-three year old.  
“Okay, Parker, so you and I used to hang out a lot. We’d do all kinds of things: play games, roll a little ball around, watch Paw Patrol, sing and make your mom get a headache after she worked all day, but — and this is important — I always made Emma change the really, really bad diapers. I didn’t mind a normal change, but if it was a blowout, that was your sister’s problem.”

“Jonah? How did you get here?”

He looked up, and at the bottom of the staircase stood Emma. “Oh, hi!” he stood up hurriedly, almost falling as he did so. “I was just-”

“Why are you talking about me?”

“Well Parker said he didn’t remember me, so I was explaining how I used to hang out with him in St. Louis, and-”

Amy appeared from the hallway at the top of the stairs. “Emma, Jonah’s here for work, and I invited him over. If he was talking about you, it’s just because he’s very weird and was thinking about the past.”

“Are you two dating again?” Emma asked, looking between the two of them suspiciously. 

“No,” Amy said firmly, before Jonah could open his mouth. “Go finish your homework.”

Emma stared at her mom, looking every ounce the seventeen years of age that she was. “It’s done! I’m getting a snack.”

Amy shook her head and waved her daughter away. 

“So, union stuff, huh?” she asked, sitting down next to Parker and grabbing a tiny car that had drifted away from him. “Sounds like the Jonah Simms dream.”

“You’d think, right?” he answered, sighing and sitting with his back against the bottom edge of the couch. “But it’s not union stuff. I’m literally the person they hire to make sure the workers don’t unionize. Or to make sure they don’t have to unionize.”

She nodded, as if this explained everything. “So you’re the Jeff of the solar company?”

“Exactly.”

“But you love it, mostly, right? I mean, you have to.”

He sighed. “Yeah, I love it. It’s a good job, and I’m helping people. Not that I’d done anything nearly this important before, so this is pretty overwhelming. Before it was mostly negotiations for days off and paternity leave, and now it’s hospital bills and backpay with a multimillion dollar company.”

“Sure, sure.”

He realized what he was doing by just talking about himself. “But what about your job? Do you enjoy being Cloud 9 manager these days?”

She leaned back, keeping one eye on Parker. “Well, the pay’s good-”

“I can imagine.”

“But it’s long days, and giant group Zoom calls and presentations on why we actually need to be supporting our stores. I miss being here, at home.”

“Yeah, that sounds hard,” he said, willing his voice to sound genuine with every ounce of will he could find. “I’m sorry.”

“Thanks. Emma’s a big help, but she’s seventeen, and I want her to have her high school experience and meet people and make friends, and prom’s coming up, so I want her to enjoy that.” She shook her head and ran a hand through her hair. “I know what it’s like to not get to be a kid in high school, and she deserves better than what I had. And without Adam here, or another person around-”

Jonah’s mind short-circuited. She didn’t have another person around, so she wasn’t in a relationship.

“-to help with Parker, I’ve had to start sending him to daycare. That’s probably pretty typical at this age, but it does suck, and I miss him, and I end up having to pay the extra money for them to keep him late some nights, and I just want to be a good mom.”

“You are a good mom,” Jonah said instinctively. “The fact that you’re thinking about this at all proves that.”

She chuckled. “Yeah, thanks. I’m doing what I can.”

“That’s amazing. It’s all anyone can ask, and your kids know that.”

Amy hummed, and the two of them fell into a pensive silence. He scanned the house, looking for signs of life, signs of Amy. Mostly it was photos of her, Parker, and Emma: at the top of the St. Louis Arch, in the City Museum, at the beach in Palo Alto. 

“Jonah,” she said, shaking her head as if getting rid of the thoughts her brain was holding. “I was thinking, and I think you should leave.”

He felt his heart sink. “What do you mean? You invited me over.”

“Yeah, I think it was a mistake. You know what?” she stood up. “I will help you with this defending-the-workers thing, because it’s the right thing to do, and for old times’ sake. But I can’t have you in my home right now, I’m sorry.” 

He stood up and leaned in towards her, suddenly remembering exactly how much taller he was than her. “Why?”

“I can’t, Jonah, I just-” she sighed, stepping away. “I don’t want this to get complicated again. We worked together, and then we got close, and then I needed you, and then I needed to be away from you. I can’t go through that again, it hurts too much. I need to be here for my job and my kids, and I can’t let you get in the way of that. Not a second time. You're just too close, and you know too much about me, and I can't let myself feel about you again.”

He swallowed, intensely aware of Emma in the other room, no doubt listening in, and Parker right next to him, unable to understand what was happening.  
“Well alright. Um, if that’s how you feel, I guess we could sit down in the office, um, on Monday and talk it out, but I should leave now and not talk to you all weekend?”

“You don’t have to be so intense about it. I’m within my rights to ask you to leave my home.”

“Yeah, I know, Amy,” he said, and tried to get his anger (not anger: betrayal, rejection, or maybe a pathetic sense of deja vu) under control. “You have the right to do whatever you want to do. It’s your house, your life. I’m just a guest.”

“Yeah, you are.”

He nodded. “Alright. See you Monday.”

Jonah stepped toward the door and put his hand on the doorknob. “Bye Emma, bye Parker. See you around, maybe.”

“Bye, Jonah,” he heard Emma’s voice call from what he assumed was the kitchen.

“Bye-bye,” called Parker’s tiny voice. 

Jonah smiled. He’d missed the two of them more than he’d wanted to admit, and easily as much as he’d missed Amy. He stepped out of the door, not waiting to hear if Amy was going to say anything else. The air was warm and wet on his face. Realizing he hadn’t called an Uber yet, he started walking down the block in the direction he’d come. He’d call one in a minute, but for now he just wanted to move his feet.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much for reading! comments and kudos fuel my writing.


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